Students Voice Their Opinions on the School Year

This year, students at Jerome have been faced with an experience that is different and unprecedented, but what does that mean to them? We asked students at Jerome to write about what challenges are affecting them most and what good has come out of the situation.

Many students are glad that things are getting cleaned more often and that people are starting to take care of their hygiene. Peyton DeWalt works at a gym and she says, “after every class, we clean everything and if you think about it, it is gross we have only ever made people just wipe down their stations with their wipes.” In addition, some feel that people are actually making an effort to keep clean and wash their hands. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to ignore the reason behind this extra vigilance. Fear of getting sick and family members getting sick is a stressor for many teens right now, especially now that some are back in school.

Despite the challenges they face, most students seem glad to have the opportunity to be at school and grateful to the building staff who have made it possible. Emma Bach says “I am going back to school to see all of my friends again, and that really helps. It is sort of going back to normal by just going back to school, and I am starting to appreciate Mondays/ Thursdays more.” Others say they are more thankful for the sports and clubs that they are able to participate in because they couldn’t at all at the end of last year.

However, views on how going back to school is actually going are incredibly mixed. Some people like Kathleen Singh have found positives in the hybrid schedule: “I can get a little more sleep on days I don’t go and I have more time to get things done.” Students also like having time to balance their work and not having to go to school five days a week.

On the other hand, many people feel overwhelmed, stressed, and are having difficulty learning. “I feel I am very swamped with work and with no help I have trouble staying on task and getting it done,” wrote Andrew Williams, who is in the Remote Learning Academy. Others like this junior are having trouble with interaction, “if I need to ask something I have to email my teacher and sometimes they don’t get back for hours or even days.” Another challenge of school work is actually being able to find it. Students wrote that they were struggling to find all of their assignments and make sure that they are all completed. Some students are also having difficulty teaching themselves, and others feel they just have too much work to do.

Outside of school, students have been able to find positives despite everything going on around them. Some have had more time for themselves, gotten closer to family, learned something new, or dove deeper into an interest. Braden Daley says the pandemic has given him: “an idea of how well we have it in America and that we shouldn’t take what we have for granted. Especially the ones in our life that we love.” Even though students are struggling with so much right now and are dealing with so many challenges, emotions, and stresses, they are still trying to learn which, considering the circumstances, is something applause-worthy.

Update: Since this story was written in early October, Dublin City Schools' high schools and middle schools have transitioned into fully remote learning between Thanksgiving and winter break. Students at Jerome are expected to be on Google Meets every period of the day every day except Wednesday, when they must be available to do classwork and talk to their teachers. For the most part it seems that this is one more change and uncertainty in an ever changing year. With the holiday season coming up and a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, there are whispers and fear among students that they might never be back in person, or at least they won’t be for a while. Despite all that, students are adapting to this new normal, just as they have all the others.